The 2014 Cat Writers’ Calendar for the Special Days, Weeks, and Months Devoted to Feline Care and Awareness

There are 365 days in the year and it seems like almost all of them have been claimed for some sort of awareness day, week, or month for one reason or another. A great many of them are related to our beloved feline friends and that got me to thinking of the collective power we have as communicators to speak on their behalf to make the world a better place for them. Whether radio, blogs, columns, websites, magazines, art, photographs, or more, we have the ability to educate and inform growing audiences that might not know otherwise, about important causes and issues that have national recognition.

Even though I am over a month late in relaying the dates (apologies – the idea of sharing them literally just popped into my head) we still have most of the year ahead of us so please use this schedule as a resource and mark your calendars for those events that you feel you might want share with your audience. These events are your time to really shine and make a difference – whether being asked to speak as an expert on a radio show for National Pet First Aid Awareness Month in April or participating in some sort of promotion to help dispel the myths about black cats for National Black Cat Day on November 17th – be creative and do your best to pull out all the talents that you have!

Please be aware as well that this calendar is subject to change – there were some discrepancies in dates and I will revise them if necessary. If I have missed something, or there is something that should be added, please do not hesitate to add a note in the comment section.

July 4: While not a feline recognized holiday, please keep in mind that our cats (and all pets) can become highly traumatized during the 4th of July festivities. Keep your pet safely indoors and recognize the fact that they can panic or hide from the sounds that fireworks cause.

National Disaster Preparedness Month (Led by FEMA’s ReadyCampaign, Citizen Corps and The Advertising Council, this effort encourages individuals, families, businesses and communities to work together and take action to prepare for disaster emergencies).

September 14: National Pet Memorial Day (International Association of Pet Cemeteries).

No recognized awareness days in December, but this is a good time to share information on preventative safety measures for our cats during the holidays because many of the foods, plants, and decorations that are part of our festivities can be dangerous or even lethal to them.

What a wonderful calendar! Many of these are celebrated on TCS (TheCatSite.com), either with new articles, featuring existing ones of arranging contests around them. I’m bookmarking this page for future reference – so wonderful to have all of this in one organized list. Thank you!